Having a Ball in Dubai

Our U11 Girls

On the 28 January Miss Lambert and Mrs Lodwig took an enthusiastic group of footballers to Dubai to compete in this year’s BSME Football tournament. With 12 teams entered we knew it was going to be a tough competition! However, this just made us all the more determined to do our best and give it our all!

The St Chris A Team used the first match to settle in but it wasn’t long before Leena, Kyla and Talia started scoring the goals! Ferne and Maryam did a sterling job in defence, shielding Haya in goal and making it very difficult for the other teams to get through. With the support of Haleema and Imogen, they managed to finish 3^rd in their pool. St Chris B team had a similar start with some close games. Annalise, Kaitlin, Charlotte, Alice, Ella and Jude battled away, ably assisted by Nadine and Yasmeen at the back.

No team found it easy up against the mighty St Chris girls! St Chris A made it to the semi-finals of the Plate for the 3^rd and 4^th placed teams. It was an extremely tough game in which we dominated. Sadly, none of our shots hit the back of the net and the game went to penalties. After a nail biting penalty shoot-out, our girls just lost out. Well done to Talia Al Hamar and Nadine Zuberbuehler who received team player of the tournament! The girls never stopped smiling and were an absolute credit to our school. Well done, one and all!

St Chris A	St Chris B
Haya Al Nusuf	Yasmeen Al Arrayed
Kyla Reekie	Alice Brandreth
Leena Makhdum	Katelin Reed
Talia Al Hamar	Ella Taylor
Maryam Berri	Jude Eissa
Ferne Wilkins	Nadine Zuberbuehler
Haleema Mohammed	Annalise beck
Imogen Rushton	Charlotte Watts

Our U11 Boys

Three St Chris football teams made a lightning trip to Dubai for the BSME U11s Boys Football Tournament hosted by DESS on Saturday 30 January 2016. The conditions were perfect for the games and each St Chris team began well in what was for many players their first tournament away from home. St Chris A quickly took charge of their qualifying group remaining unbeaten without conceding a goal and pushing their name into the Cup quarter-finals.

Player of the Team Sam Fisher was the Assist Master, laying several goals on a plate for his teammates. St Chris B found their group a little harder but gave it their all to qualify for the Plate quarter finals, driven on by the determination and energy of Player of the Team Mohammed Ghaith who was everywhere. St Chris C added some flair to very gritty performances, notably Player of the Team Jacob Philpotts who was an unyielding rock at the back, to also qualify for the Cup quarter-finals. Unfortunately for the Bs and Cs, both their journeys ended with narrow defeats leaving the As to fly the flag in the semis.

Player of the Tournament Ali Al-Nusuf popped up with his third header of the day to secure a 1-0 victory and put his team into the final. A tightly fought affair edged in St Chris’ favour but not even eventual Golden Boot Winner James Pilgrim could break the deadlock through normal and extra time, leaving the final to go to penalties. St Chris held their nerve to dispatch successful spot kicks and win back the coveted Tournament Cup to the joy of all three teams. Thanks must go to coaches Mr. Maye, Mr. Dawson and Mr. Dales plus Mr. Holness in his role of Director of Football who could not be more proud of their players. Huge congratulations go to every team member for their behavior, attitude and effort from the first minute to the last of what was an exhausting but very successful overnight trip. Well done!

A Team	B Team	C Team
Sean MacNamara	Jed Thomas	Owen Tahboub
Salim Al Shahry	Thomas Roycroft	Jacob Philpotts
Owen Verbeek	Matthias Hopman-Ruh	Andrew Monkhouse
Ali Al-Nusuf	Nasser Saleh	Yousif Redha
Sam Fisher	Mohammed Ghaith	Isa Al Khalifa
Joe Dennison	Ryan Karaan	Salman Al Khalifa
Alex Hopman-Ruh	Tariq Alyaqoob	Hashim Khalaifat
Hassan Qamber	Yousif Al-Mahoozi	Matthew Holland
James Pilgrim	Cormac Mulleague	Rayaan Anwar
	Ahmed Al A’ali	Ridha Alnooh